If only we'd turned left
by Kelby
Summary: Post RENT - Ever wonder how certain things came about? How if something in the past had been different what how that would have changed today? How did Roger become the Roger we all know? COMPLETED!
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1

Joanne shook her head, making a disgusted face as she finished off the last of her shot glass. "That's it. I quit."

"Me too." Mimi said, leaning her head against Roger. "I can't drink any more tonight."

"Me either." Maureen agreed. "Maybe we can finish up tomorrow night."

"No. Never." Joanne told the group. "When I said I quit I didn't mean just tonight, I meant forever. I refuse to ever play any more of Collins' stupid, made up drinking games."

"What's wrong with my games?" Collins asked as everyone, including himself laughed.

"What's wrong with them? What's right with them? They're stupid! They make no sense. And the rules change every time!" She told him, having a difficult time attempting to stand up from the floor where they all sat around the coffee table.

"And they always get you trashed!" Roger laughed from his spot on the floor where he finished off his last shot.

"Well yes, that too." Joanne agreed. "But that's not the point. They are just stupid games."

"They're drinking games Joanne. They aren't supposed to be the most intelligent things on earth." Mark told her as he started to clean up the Monopoly money, Risk board, and Trivial Pursuit cards that Collins had managed to turn into the latest game.

"Well who won?" Mimi asked Collins who was figuring out the scores on a piece of paper.

"Believe it or not," Collins told them, "but Maureen won." He laughed.

"Yes! I'm mostest brilliantest in the world!" Maureen exclaimed, throwing her arms up and bouncing up onto the couch.

Joanne flopped down on the couch. "See that's what I mean. It makes no sense that _Maureen_ won. How? How is that possible? And we won't even get into the grammatical errors of her last statement." Joanne gave a drunken pout.

"Oh Pookie! Be happy for me! I never win. Ever." She climbed over to Joanne and gave her a little kiss. "Besides you didn't do that bad."

"Yeah Joanne you didn't do that bad for a change. It was Maureen, then Mark, me, Mimi, you and in last place….Roger Davis!"

Mark laughed at that. "Yeah you sucked big time tonight buddy!"

"Oh bite me." He told them staring off into space.

Joanne rubbed her eyes. "Oh I'm going to have a headache tomorrow. And I wanted to get some work done too." She pulled her feet up under her and got comfortable in the corner of the couch.

"What time is it?" Mimi asked.

"Almost two." Joanne said. "Maybe I'll bag working tomorrow and go in Sunday morning instead."

"Yeah I got a huge stack of papers to grade tomorrow too." Collins told them pouring himself, another shot. "I hate summer sessions. They are too short. Both for grading and for getting anything decent turned in."

Roger looked up curiously from his spot on the floor. "Hey what day is it?"

"Friday." Maureen answered as she laid her head in Joanne's lap and closed her eyes. "Actually I guess its Saturday now since it's after midnight."

"Yeah but what's the date?" He asked.

"Oh, um the seventh."

"Oh wow." He said softly as he poured a shot for himself and Mark. "Today's Amber's birthday."

Mark silently nodded as he picked up his glass, clinked it against Roger's and drank it back.

"That's nice. Tell her we said happy birthday." Mimi said in a tired drunken voice before sitting up some from where she rested against Roger and looked at him. "Wait. Who's Amber?" She asked confused.

"Yeah, who's Amber?" Maureen asked as they all looked at him wondering the same thing.

Roger just stood up and gave a little shrug. "My daughter. I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow." And he walked into his bedroom and closed the door.


	2. chapter 2

Chapter 2

"His what?" Maureen asked as she sat up straight.

"Wait. Roger has a daughter?" Joanne said, any sign of her former drunken state gone.

"No…" Mimi gave a little laugh. "He's kidding. Right? I mean in the four years we've been together, if he'd had a kid somewhere I think I'd have know about it." Mimi stood there looking at the group of friends, hands on hips waiting for an answer.

"Well?" Maureen demanded of Collins.

"Don't look at me!" Collins told her, still somewhat taken aback himself. "It's the first time I've ever heard that."

At that point Maureen turned her attention to Mark who had quietly picked up the shot glasses and gone into the kitchen. "Well?"

"Well what?" Mark shrugged. "Amber's his daughter." He went back to washing the glasses.

"How? And with who? And why haven't any of us ever heard this before?"

"Yeah?" Mimi, suddenly feeling somewhat betrayed, demanded as well.

"Well maybe he just never felt like talking about it! You know we did have lives before we knew any of you!" He said defensively.

"But Marky!" Maureen started but he cut her off.

"Jesus Maureen! What is _your _problem? You want to know how April's parents threatened to throw him in jail? Or how they ran away together? Or maybe the fact that her parents made them give up the baby so April wouldn't be 'throwing her life away' and all that crap? Because I'm sure becoming so depressed that she started shooting up in the first place and then killing herself was exactly what they had in mind for their daughter the honor student!" Mark spit the words at her before storming off to his room. "I'm going to bed!" He yelled and then slammed the door so hard the loft shook.

Collins, Maureen, Joanne and Mimi just stood there somewhat dumbstruck for a moment. None of them really knowing what to do or say. After a few moments the door to Roger and Mimi's room opened and Roger came out in his pajama pants and a tee shirt.

"Damn don't you people have homes?" He teased. "I thought you were drunk and tired?" He asked Joanne.

"Um, I, I guess I woke up some." She said quietly. They all just stared at him as he walked to the kitchen filled a glass of water and drank it down. When he finished they were all still staring at him. "Don't mind Mark. You know how he gets. How he likes to trace every event backwards. Find the cause. The screw up. His whole 'if we turned left instead of right' crap." He stared down at the glass he was filling again. "It wasn't his fault. We were stupid. Besides, she's better off."

Mimi just looked at him. "Roger why didn't you ever tell me?" She said softly.

"I don't know." He shrugged again. "We don't really talk about it. It just never came up." He told her apologetically. He sort of felt bad he never told her before. He didn't mean to keep it from her, it just wasn't something he thought or talked about anymore. It all just intertwined itself into so many bad things. Things that he'd locked away long ago. But suddenly he had an urge to let it go. To tell it all and get it out. Unlock the door to the past. Suddenly he felt like it was time. "Do you really want to know?" He asked them hesitantly.

"Yeah!" Maureen exclaimed just before getting swatted and shushed by Joanne who was nodding her head silently at Roger.

"If you want to tell us." Collins gently said.

Roger looked at Mimi who was nodding at him, urging him to continue. He walked over and sat back down on the floor pulling Mimi down with him. "Amber. That was her name. Amber Michelle Davis. At least that's what we named her. I don't know what her name is now."

"But what happened? What was Mark talking about?" Mimi asked.

"April's parents made her give up the baby. We had to put her up for adoption."

"What do you mean they made you?" Joanne asked.

"We just finished junior year of high school. I was 17. April had skipped like second grade and was only 16. She was on high honor roll all the way through school. We were going to go to college in Philadelphia. Then we were gonna get married. And when she got pregnant, we figured we'd just do it in different order." He played with his glass of water.

"We didn't tell anybody she was pregnant. Nobody knew except Mark. She was six months before anybody found out. Her parents went ballistic. Her father kept saying how no daughter of his was going to drop out of school and marry some bum or become some welfare mom."

"That's a little harsh." Collins added in.

"Yeah well, then my parents found out, and while they weren't thrilled they were way better than April's. They were more willing to help us figure out what to do, but her parents said no way. We either give up the baby or they have me thrown in jail for statutory rape because when she got pregnant it was one month before her sixteenth birthday."

"Oh my god that's awful!" Mimi said, hand going to her mouth out of shock. "What did you do?"

"What else? Took the 1500 bucks we had between us, threw our clothes, her TV and my Nintendo and guitar in my car and ran away. We crashed at the Jersey shore. My cousin Frankie has these friends, Mike and Connie, who let us live in their basement apartment. Mike gave me a job under the table working for his landscaping company mowing lawns.

"We thought we had it all planned out. God we were so stupid!" He shook his head. "Mike and Connie's basement had a bedroom that fit a bed, a dresser and a crib. The other room fit a couch, chair and had a tiny kitchen at the other end. The closet was really the utility room that had the furnace and hot water tank in it. And the bathroom had this nasty old rusty shower stall in it. The whole thing was about as big as me and Mark's rooms put together." He gave a little laugh as he shook his head.

"But man we thought we had it made. They were only gonna charge us 150 dollars a month and they said we could stay as long as we needed. Plus Connie gave us her kids' old crib, stroller, car seat and a big box of baby clothes. We thought we were all set.

"The plan was to hide out for the last six weeks. Let April have the baby. Wait a few more weeks and then call my mom. We figured April's parents would be so happy to hear from us by then it would all blow over. Then me and April and Amber would all move in with my parents and finish senior year." He stared down into his now empty glass. "It was supposed to be so simple. I kept telling April not to worry. I promised her it would all work out. I promised her."


	3. chapter 3

_"It was supposed to be so simple. I kept telling April not to worry. I promised her it would all work out. I promised her." _

Chapter 3

"April. April wake up Baby." Roger whispered running a hand down the side of her face.

Her eyes opened she smiled up at him. "Hey you're finally home." She sat up on the couch, stretched and yawned. "What time is it?"

"Almost eight."

"Where have you been?"

"Working." He flopped down on the couch next to her. "I'm so beat. It's supposed to rain really hard for the next two days so Mike wanted to get us ahead of schedule. I'm telling you right now, we are never buying a house with a yard. If I never see another lawnmower again after I get done working for Mike that's fine with me. You can go play in the park little girl!" He said leaning over and kissing April's pregnant stomach.

April giggled as he kissed her stomach. "You're crazy Roger. Are you hungry? I got spaghetti?"

"I'm starving. And I'm filthy. I gotta take a shower." He kissed her stomach again, kissed April and headed towards the bathroom.

Roger finished showering and changed into boxers and a tee shirt. By the time he came out April was dishing up the spaghetti. She handed him a bowl and they sat back down on the couch.

"Thanks Baby." He told her taking a bit of his food. "How do you feel?"

April shrugged. "Fat. Bored. Useless. Oh and fat."

"You're not fat. And you're not useless." He gave her a mischievous little grin. "You got lots of uses Baby."

She kicked her foot out, hitting him in the leg. "You are so bad!" She grinned at him. "But seriously Roger, why won't you let me get a job?"

He put down the fork that was halfway to his mouth. "How about cause you're like eight months pregnant?"

"Roger…" She pouted.

"Ap…Nobody's gonna hire you when your eight months pregnant."

"They might on the boardwalk?"

"Where half of our high school goes on vacation? The last thing we need is somebody seeing us and telling our parents or somebody back home." He countered before finishing off his dinner and setting the bowl on the floor.

After pouting for a moment and playing with her food she finally spoke. "I know. I know you're right. But I just feel so useless. And we could use the money."

Roger scooted closer to her, took the bowl out of her hand and set it on the floor next to his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. "Don't worry about the money. I'll take care of the money."

"But Rog…"

He kissed her neck as he held her. "Don't worry. Please? You just keep cooking Amber and I'll take care of the money. I promise." He kissed her again.

"I know. I'm sorry." She intertwined her fingers with his and rested them on her stomach.

He kissed her neck again and scratched her belly. "What did you do today?"

"Nothing." She shrugged. "Watched TV. Read magazine. Connie took me to the grocery store. I got more cereal and milk. And some more mac and cheese. Oh and more chocolate chip waffles and Oreos."

"That's cool. Connie and Mike are really nice."

"Yeah they're great. And we really owe them. We'd be totally screwed if your cousin hadn't hooked us up with them."

"Yeah, big time." He said in a tired voice. "Did I tell you I talked to Randy today?"

April sat up some and turned to look at him. "No! What did he say? Does he know anything? Was he really mad about the band? What did he say?"

Roger pulled her back up against him. "Well, he was pretty pissed when I never turned up for band practice. But he found somebody to replace me."

She held his hands tightly, hugging her self with his arms. "I'm so sorry Roger. You loved that band. I'm so sorry." Tears forming in her eyes.

"It's okay Baby. I love you more than some dumb old band. There's other bands. Besides, Randy will get over it. He kinda understood."

"I hope so. Did he say anything else?" She asked wiping her eyes.

"Well he said our parents have called everyone we know. And Mark's parents are coming down hard on him too."

"Oh no! Poor Mark. What's happening?"

"Well nobody believes that he doesn't know where we are. He's been grounded since the day after we took off. Oh and get this! Randy said that little bitch Carrie dumped Mark. She said she wasn't going to waste her whole summer vacation waiting on him to get off grounding."

"What a bitch! He's better off! I never liked her. But poor Mark. God we are ruining his life!"

"Don't worry about Mark. He can take it. And he'll never tell. But Randy did say they were still looking hard for us. So I don't think we better go anywhere in my car if we can help it. We better stick to hanging our here or riding with Mike and Connie. Better safe than sorry. That's our new motto."

April let out a little giggle at that statement.

"What's so funny?" He asked her.

"Well…" She laughed again. "If that had been your motto eight months ago we wouldn't be in this mess."

Roger got a little grin. "Yeah, yeah, I know." He kissed the back of her neck. "I'm sorry. But I'll make it up to you. You'll see. I promise. It will all work out. I promise."

A/N Just a little flashback. Roger thinking back on things as he tells everyone the story of what happened.

Glad everyone is enjoying this. I'm thinking of doing a prequeal once this is done. What lead up to this and all. Let me know what you think.

Reviews are loved and adored. Thanks to everyone who has already left one. Let me know if you think I should bother with a prequeal.


	4. chapter 4

Chapter 4

"That was your plan?" Maureen balked. "Run away, have the baby and then show back up later hoping they'd all say how cute she was and totally forget everything now that they've seen their grandkid?"

"Basically." Roger shrugged at her. "We really thought we had it made too. You know, nobody hassling us. We could do whatever we wanted. Didn't have to listen to our parents go on about anything thing. Hell I was 17 years old living with my girlfriend in my own apartment. At the time it seemed perfect."

"So you guys just hid out?" Mimi asked him.

"Yeah, pretty much. I mean I was like seriously freaked somebody would find us. April's dad was this big time lawyer. I didn't know what he was going to do, but I just kept picturing him having an APB out on my car and stuff. So we hid the car in Mike's backyard and just hung out.

"I mean I was working everyday anyway. Sometimes we went to the movies. Or we'd walk down to the 7-11 for slushies. But that was pretty much it. We stayed off the boardwalk so we wouldn't run into anyone and just hung out back at our apartment." He said with a small somewhat sad grin.

"I just can't picture you and April playing house." Maureen said.

"Yeah well April would get up every morning and make me breakfast. Eggos with peanut butter or Poptarts. And she'd make me lunch too. She use to put notes in my lunch from Amber and stuff." Roger saw the amused grin on Collins' face. "Hey we were in high school. At the time it was really cute."

"I think it's sweet." Joanne told them.

"April kept watching all these cooking shows saying how we better learn to cook because we can't be feeding Amber peanut butter and jelly, baloney, mac and cheese and frozen waffles.

"And she kept reading all these magazines Connie had on kids and parenting and stuff. She had this huge list of stuff we were going to need to baby proof my mom's house when we moved in with them. And how my Dad was going to have to quit smoking cigars around the baby and all. Stuff like that." He gave another little shrug.

"Connie gave her a bunch of baby clothes. She had these cute little dresses picked out for Thanksgiving and Christmas. April kept joking about taking Amber to our senior prom the next spring. Getting a prom picture with her all dressed up and all." He gave a little laugh thinking back on that. "I mean we really thought it was all going to work out."

"Wow." Maureen said. "That just so doesn't sound like April."

"At least the April we knew." Collins added.

"That's just it." Roger said softly looking up at Collins. "By the time you knew her, she was a totally different person. We both were."

"I can't believe you guys never said anything." Maureen said. "And it all just sounds so strange. April making you lunch and talking about the prom. And being an honor student."

"Yeah well you don't know everything Maureen! We weren't always junkies you know!" Roger snapped at her.

There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "I'm sorry." Maureen said barely above a whisper with her eyes on the floor.

No one knew what to say so they all sat there silent for a minute. No one even making eye contact. Finally Roger spoke. "You guys want to see some pictures of Amber?"

"You have some?" Mimi asked, surprised.

"Yeah. A few." He told her, suddenly feeling somewhat guilty.

"I'd love to see them Roger." Joanne spoke up.

"Me too." Mimi said softly.

Roger got up and went into his bedroom. He could hear them whispering out in the living room. He dug through his closet till he found the box that held everything related to April in it. It felt strange to be talking about all of this. Especially to Mimi. April and that whole part of his life was something they just didn't discuss.

He set the box down on his bed and started to pull things out of it. It had been a long time since he'd been in that box. And even longer since he'd been in the envelope he was looking for. He was just starting to get nervous that something had happened to it when he found the envelope.

It was near the bottom of the box. Under a small pink and white teddy bear he had won early that spring. Before anyone knew April was pregnant. Right after they had found out at Planned Parenthood that the baby was a girl. He won two teddy bears that day. One for April and one for Amber. That was the day they decided to name her Amber. April had told him that she made them leave the other teddy bear with Amber when they took her away. She hoped someday, when she was bigger she'd know it was from her real parents. Roger stared down at the bear for a moment, wondering if somewhere out there was a little girl with a pink and white teddy bear.

Carefully he picked up the bear and set it on the bed. He reached back into the box and pulled out the manila envelope. Amber's name was written across it in April's neat handwriting. He hadn't looked in that envelope in years. Not since right after April died. In the beginning they'd talked about her a lot, but it always made April cry. Eventually less and less. The day April killed herself she had pulled out that envelope. Roger had found it on their bed.

Silently he walked backed out to the living room and sat back down next to Mimi. He dumped the envelope out on to the coffee table. About twenty pictures and some papers fell out.

"Oh Roger's she's beautiful!" Joanne told him, flipping through the pictures. "Amber Michelle Davis – 10 minutes old." She read off the back of one picture.

"Wow you guys look so happy." Mimi said sadly, about the picture of Roger standing next to the hospital bed where April held the baby. "And so young."

"We were young." Roger told her looking at the pictures. "God I was scared to death I was gonna drop her or something the first time I held her. She was so tiny. But she wrapped her whole hand around my finger and just hung on."

"Oh look at Mark! He looks about twelve and terrified!" Maureen gave a snotty laugh.

"Yeah well, what you don't know is he was grounded because he wouldn't tell anybody anything about where we were. To try and get him to talk his parents took away his car, his license, his camera, his phone and his ATM card so he couldn't get any money. But he never said a word." Roger snapped at her again as he ripped the picture of Mark holding Amber out of her hands.

"Before we left he got a text pager so I could get a hold of him if I needed him. Nobody knew about it. I paged him and told him April was in labor. He had to wait till everybody at his house was asleep. Then he snuck into his sister's room and stole her car keys and her wallet. He climbed out his bedroom window, jumped off the porch roof, pushed his sister's car down the driveway and rolled it down the street some so no one would hear him start it. So yeah Mark committed his first felony to come and see us even though he knew full well he'd have hell to pay when he got back home. And we found out later he broke his foot jumping off the porch roof. And he still did all that!

"So yeah he had a right to look terrified. Plus he was scared he'd drop Amber too." Roger gave a small grin thinking back on all Mark had done for him and April during all that. During everything actually.

"And just one more reason why you gotta love Mark." Collins told them as he looked at the pictures. Pictures of people he never knew. They certainly weren't the Roger and April he knew.

"So how did they find you?" Mimi asked him softly. She wasn't really sure where her place in this conversation was. She wanted to know. She wanted to be supportive. But she wasn't sure exactly where she fit in.

Roger let out a sigh as he looked at the pictures of April and Amber. They were both so beautiful. And Amber looked just like April. Even then she had April's eyes and nose. Without looking up from the pictures he answered her. "It wasn't his fault. They would have found us eventually. I mean we gave the hospital April's insurance card so they would have found us. We didn't think about that. And we didn't know her parents hired a private investigator to look for us either. Had we known, I never would have let Mark come down. I wouldn't even have told him. But it's not his fault. He was just trying to help. I don't blame him. I never did. Neither of us did. But I still think he doesn't believe me. Even if he did it wouldn't matter. Mark blames himself enough for both of us."


	5. chapter 5

Chapter 5

"What do you mean Mark blames himself? What happened?" Joanne asked him.

"Is it Mark's fault you got caught?" Maureen asked, a little too eager.

"No it is not Mark's fault!" Roger told her before shaking his head. "No. Listen, like I said we gave them April's insurance card. They were going to find out she was in the hospital. They just found out sooner that we expected."

"How?" Collins asked.

"Mark used his sister's credit card to buy gas before he headed back home. The gas station was just down the street from the hospital. Like I said, it wasn't his fault. Who would have thought they'd figure anything out from that? But yeah, that's how they found us." He set the pictures back down on the coffee table.

"Mark got home and they were all there waiting for him. His parents, my parents and April's parents. And you know he still never said anything. His sister Cindy didn't either. But my dad asked Cindy how much gas was in the car before Mark took it. They figured out he had to of bought gas, and Cindy cracked under the pressure and told them he had taken her credit card too.

"Her parents got to the hospital and said give the baby up or I go to jail. And I said I'd go to jail because April wanted to keep Amber. We both did. And then my parents got there and everyone was yelling at everyone. April was crying. Amber was crying. My mom was crying. Her dad kept going on about sending me to jail which just got my mom and April going again. Then April's dad's lawyer showed up, with cops and warrant for my arrest in Scarsdale.

"By the time everyone was done, April was so upset, and we were so confused and so tired. We hadn't slept in like 36 hours at that point. The cops had cuffed me and were ready to take me away. April was so scared they were gonna send me to jail. It just felt like we didn't have any options. So we gave her up." He gave another little shrug as he picked up another picture and looked at it."

"Oh honey that's so sad." Mimi told him taking his hand into both of hers.

"But for about twelve hours she was all ours." He stared at a picture. "Nobody knew about her but us and Mark. And we stupidly believed everything was going to work out. But then they all showed up. And by the time she was one day old, we never saw her again."

"Oh Roger that's horrible." Joanne said, wiping away a tear that had formed.

"So what happened then?" Maureen asked.

Roger shrugged. "Nothing. School started. We were seniors. April's parents said we weren't supposed to see each other so we had to sneak around for awhile. My mom didn't care so she was cool about that. But nothing was ever the same. I was supposed to be one of the co-captains on the baseball team that year, but I quit baseball. The band let me back in, but they kicked me out before the year was up because I didn't always make it to practice. And April was just so depressed. By the time graduation came she'd gone from high honors to barely passing. Mark did half our homework that year. She just didn't care. And I don't think she ever spoke to her dad again."

"I don't think I'd talk to him either if it was me." Joanne said.

"No I mean literally. She never spoke to him. If he said anything to her she'd just give him this icy glare and walk away. She just sort of pretended he didn't exist anymore. Between that, and just being depressed she stayed away from her house a lot. Her mother finally agreed to 'let' her start seeing me again, but I'm pretty sure she knew we never quit in the first place. But none of it helped.

"We started smoking weed to sort of dull it. We went to freshman year of college. We didn't even party or anything that much. I hooked up with these guys forming a band. April would hang out and get stoned during rehearsals. Our grades sucked. Mark was like seven hours away at Brown. We knew we weren't going back.

"April's mom thought she was doing better. Before our grades came out April told her mom she needed to pay for the next year's tuition. Her mother put the money into her account. We packed up our dorm rooms, when back home and got some more of our stuff, said goodbye to Mark and left for the city.

"We found an apartment and The Well Hungarians started taking off. For awhile it seemed like it was getting better. Especially after Mark showed up at the end of his sophomore year and we moved into the loft with Benny. But Mark could tell how depressed April was. By that point I didn't even see it between all the crap we were doing. And Mark still felt guilty, which just reminded April of it more I guess.

"So that's what Mark meant…" Collin trailed off, thinking back to Mark's little outburst before hand.

"Yeah you know Mark. I really think he thinks if her parents hadn't done all that, April and I wouldn't have run away, wouldn't have become junkies, wouldn't have turned up positive and April wouldn't have killed herself. Plus he blames himself for setting all that in motion as well. Which is all total bull. He didn't do anything.

"But he's right about one thing. Her dad went to so much trouble to keep her from throwing her life away. Instead she ends up a junkie who kills herself in our bathroom." He let out a sigh as he rested his head back on the seat of the chair he was leaning against.

"I still can't believe you're a daddy." Mimi said quietly. "It just seems so strange."

"Yeah well considering it was only for about twelve hours or so I don't know if it really counts."

"Of course it counts. You went through hell to try and do what you thought was best for your kid. That's what makes you a daddy. A good daddy."

Roger gave a small, tired laugh. "Yeah right. I got to go to bed." He started putting the pictures in the envelope.

"Roger what are these?" Joanne asked him, looking at the papers that had fallen out when he dumped out the pictures.

"I don't know. Adoption papers I guess. April just always kept them with the pictures."

"Oh." Joanne answered as she folding the papers back up and put them into the envelope.

Roger picked up the envelope and his glass and walked over to the kitchen. He sat the envelope on the counter as he put his glass in the sink. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Are you coming to bed?" He asked Mimi.

"Yes, in just a minute." She told him, as she helped Collins pick up the rest of the night's glasses and such.

"Okay." Roger walked out of the kitchen and started heading towards his room but he stopped and turned towards Mark's. He knew Mark was awake. He knew Mark had heard everything through the thin walls. Without bothering to knock he walked into Mark's room. "Hey." He whispered.

"Hey." Mark whispered back, not turning to look at him.

Roger sat down on Mark's bed. "You gotta get over this. We never blamed you you know? It just worked out that way. They would have found us eventually. And them finding us, or all the crap her parents did didn't make us junkies. Or make her kill herself."

"Well it sure as hell didn't help!" Mark whispered back, still facing the wall.

"She's better off Mark. What kind of life would she have had? We couldn't have given her anything. Teenage parents. No money. We probably wouldn't even had graduated high school. We probably wouldn't be much better off than we are now."

"Maybe. But you'd at least have your kid. And April wouldn't have killed herself. And you wouldn't have, well you know."

"Yeah I know."

"I just wish it was different."

"Me too." Roger said softly as he stood up. "I'll see you in the morning."

A/N Glad you guys are liking this. I'm starting to put together a prequeal of this story. Hopefully I'll get a lot of it done next week while I'm on vacation with my little junior Renthead. Reviews will of course help inspire me! I'm not sure if I'll be able to post at all next week, but I'll be back before next weekend. Don't forget about me!

Thanks for the reviews so far. I'm glad you guys are liking this.

Kelby


	6. chapter 6

Chapter 6

"I'll get it!" Came the yell following the doorbell as a young boy ran to the front door and opened it. "Hi."

"Um, hi." She said hesitantly. "Um, I think I might have the wrong address, I'm looking for Roger Davis."

"Christopher Michael Cohen what have I told you about opening up that front door?" The woman yelled at him as she walked up. "Hold on a minute sis." She said into the cordless phone.

"It's for Uncle Roger."

"I have told you a million times not to answer the door by yourself!" She scolded him again before looking back at the young woman at the door. "Hi."

"Hi. I ah, I'm looking for Roger Davis. If this is a bad time, I could come back." She said hesitantly.

"Oh yeah, Roger said you were coming by to drop off that music. He's out on the back deck. Come on in." She opened up the screen door to let her in.

"Um, no, I'm not-" She got cut off.

"No!" The boys mother went back to talking into the phone. "I do not want fat free, sugar free ice cream. Regular ice cream. And a regular chocolate cake that simply says 'Happy Birthday Mark' on it. If you're so worried about getting fat, don't eat it! And we do not need thirty-five candles. Just get candles. Fine, fine, get a three and a five if it will make you happy." She looked down at the boy and moved the phone. "Christopher, take her out back to Uncle Roger. And tell Daddy to turn on the grill." She waved the woman in and went back to her phone call. "You're my sister and I love you, but right now you are making me wish I'd sent Maureen to the store! And that's saying a lot!"

"Uncle Roger's back here." Christopher told her. "It's my dad's birthday today. He's 35. That's my aunt on the phone. She's supposed to be getting him a cake."

"That's nice." She said, following him through the house.

"I'm Chris. I just had a birthday. I'm five. How old are you?"

"I'm 18." She told him as he opened the back door and walked out onto a deck were four people, two men, and two women, one of them pregnant, sat all laughing at something.

"Uncle Roger that girl's here with the music. And Mom said to turn on the grill Dad." Chris said.

"Yeah, okay." Mark replied as he dug a beer out of the cooler and popped it open as he stood up and turned around. "Oh my god." He said as the open beer slid from his hand, hitting the ground and sending foam flying and spraying the pregnant woman.

"Jesus Mark, watch what you're, holy crap!" Maureen exclaimed when she looked up to see what Mark had been looking at.

Joanne grabbed the napkins off the table and handed them to Maureen to wipe off the beer foam. "What?" She looked back and forth from Mark and Maureen, who were staring at the girl.

"April." Maureen whispered to here.

"Oh my god." Joanne said just under her breath, realizing that the girl had that deer in the headlights look on her face and Roger was just staring at her.

"I, I'm looking for Roger Davis."

Slowly Roger stood up. He couldn't believe how much the girl in front of him looked like April back when they were in high school. "I'm Roger."

She took a quick deep breath and spit it out, just like she practiced it. "My name is Kendal. But I think my real name's Amber, and I think you're my father."

A huge grin started to spread across Roger's face. "Yeah, I'm your father. God you look so much like April, your mom." He said shaking his head. "But yeah, I'm your father. And your name was Amber. Amber Michelle Davis. And I am so happy to see you."

The End

A/N Well I wanted to end it there. It needed closure, but I wanted to leave it open to personal interpretation somewhat too.

In case you missed it, Mark is married with a kid (Christopher), Maureen and Joanne are still together and Maureen is finally having a baby.

It's not stated, but Roger lives in the basement apartment of Mark's house. They are 35, Mimi and Collins are gone. Amber just had her 18th birthday recently, so she was able to get her adoption records and track down Roger.

Hope you guys liked the ending and that it wasn't too sudden, but I didn't want it to turn into some big long drawn out thing.

I am working on a prequeal to this story, but it may be awhile before it gets put up. We are getting ready to do a cross country move at the end of May. Between vacation and house hunting in Texas and packing, I'm going to be a little busy. And I don't know when we are going to get into our new house and have internet hooked up. So we'll see.

Glad you like it. Thanks for the reviews. Keep reviewing. Not just mine, but all the Rent fics. And the movie is scheduled to open November 11th!

Thanks again!

Kelby


End file.
